Homeland Security

To the Editor:
Able Danger - now that's an odd combination of words. What, if anything, could it mean? Well, it turns out that this is the code name of a super secret pentagon &#8220data mining” operation that, believe it or not, identified five Al-Qaeda cells prior to 9/11. Furthermore, they identified two of the three cells that carried out the terror flights on 9/11. No less, Able Danger actually identified Al-Qaeda's Brooklyn cell member Mohammed Atta one year prior to his diabolical last flight!
Major Anthony Shaffer, an Able Danger leader, did what any good American would do - he made three attempts to inform the FBI &#8220so they could bring this cell in and take out the terrorists.” Yes, the Able Danger team had no doubts about what these peaceful Muslims were up to! For reasons still unknown, every time Lt. Col. Shaffer (yes he was promoted just prior to going public with this information) tried to set up meetings, they were cancelled from &#8220higher ups” in the State Department. Now, for unknown but equally strange reasons in 2001, &#8220officials” in the Clinton administration ordered the primary Able Danger files destroyed.
Enter now Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA), Vice chairman of the Armed Services Committee and the Homeland Security Committee. He gave a 45-minute speech on the House floor on June 27, 2004. Write and ask your congressman to get you a copy of Rep. Weldon's speech and read it yourself. Ask your congressman if he or she has read it. This past September 21, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee finally held an overdue hearing on Able Danger. Wow, at last the truth would be known. Well guess what: the Pentagon blocked star witnesses Lt. Col. Shaffer and James D. Smith from testifying! Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), along with other members of a Senate Judiciary Committee - Democrats and Republicans - heatedly accused the Defense Dept. of obstructing the senate's investigators. Friends, the tragic failure to &#8220take out” the Al-Qaeda cell before 9/11 certainly wasn't due to any lack of intelligence information.
Friends, it is hypocritical to claim we must fight terrorism thousands of miles from our shores while our borders, our seaports, and our air terminals are just about wide open. Bring our troops home - stop spilling their blood. The billions saved by bringing our troops home can be used to create a massive immigration control force equipped with the finest technology available and stop this deluge of illegal immigration. Let's fight the war on terror on our front steps.
Contact your senators and representatives, Senator Arlen Specter, Congressman Curt Weldon, and President bush and demand that the truth behind Able Danger be told. There is a wealth of information about Able Danger, and how it is connected to this fiasco in Iraq and illegal immigration that has yet to be exposed. Log onto www.thenewamerican.com for more information today.
Frank S. Ferrari
Bayside